The Ghost's Story
by Anyadiva
Summary: AU with the OC. The Winter Soldier and The Black Widow aren't Hydras only super soldier experiments. But how no one have ever heard of The Ghost? And what all of that has to do with the Red Skull, and Tony's new employee Anna?


**A/N:**

 **This is my first story ever, and English isn't my native language, so please, point out the biggest mistakes.**

 **Anyway, this is an AU, where Bucky stayed with Steve after TWS, and Age of Ultron and Civil War never happened. I might include characters from those, but I'm not sure yet.**

 **Disclaimer: I own only OC's, other characters belongs to Marvel, Harry Potter to J. .**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **«** _Всё_ _,_ _кроме_ _любви_ _,_ _вся_ _наша_ _жизнь_ _так_ _далеко_ _._

 _Я_ _,_ _я_ _–_ _не_ _один_ _,_ _но без тебя просто никто»_

 _Би_ _-2, «_ _Молитва_ _»_

(Everything, but love, our whole life is so far away.

I, I'm not alone, but without you I'm nothing)

Bi-2 "Prayer"

 **Prologue**

 **1914, Northern Germany**

Newly-weds, Johann and Amy Schmidt, sat on the coast of the lake watching as the sun rise, coloring already pastel-orange walls of the Schwerin-castle. It was peaceful morning, but they both knew what was waiting for them in the next 24 hours.

"You know that I have to go," sighed Johann, "there is no escaping the war". "I know", Amy's short answer was filled with pain and fear of losing her beloved one. "Then you should also know that I'll come back as a war hero, and we will live our lives as we wish. No one will have any right to tell us what to do, I promise you that _mein Liebe_. But now I must go, I'll be back soon, you'll see. "Johann looked at his wife and promised himself that he will do everything necessary to come back to her.

Amy sighed, closed her eyes, and hugged her husband tightly, before kissing him lightly, and saying that she believed him. With one last look at Amy, Johann left to the war.

 **1918, Berlin**

Amy was sitting in her small apartment clutching the letter in her hand. She couldn't get her head around the things she just read. Johann was injured? Was lost at the battle field? And then assumed dead? But she got a letter from him yesterday, saying that he was okay, and none of his previous messages said anything about any injuries?!

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear a knock on the door. When it got louder, she jumped from her couch and run to the door. "Who's there?" " _Guten Abend, Fräulein,_ I'm sorry for coming at this time, but I arrived to the Berlin an hour ago, and came here as soon as I could. I was fighting side-by-side with your husband, Johann…" before he could end that sentence, Amy ripped the door open. Standing there was a young man, with blond hair and brown eyes.

"What happened to him? The truth!" Amy shouted at the soldier. He was taken aback by her fierce welcoming, and took a moment to readjust himself. "Your husband was a brave man, _Fräulein,_ saved lives of many soldiers, by jumping in front of the bullets. Got himself almost killed couple of times, but he had luck on his side, and our field doctor Zola.

However, couple of weeks ago, bullet got him in the right lung. Zola gave him some injections, which saved his life for a while, but then he got worse, and Zola decided to take him to his private hospital. That's the last I've seen of him." Soldier paused, took a breath, and looked Amy right in the eyes. "The car they were in, was found empty on the road, with no sight of them. I'm sorry." With that, he bowed his head a little, turned around, and left, leaving Amy standing in her doorway in shock.

After five minutes, have passed, she slowly turned around, walked to the kitchen, took the biggest knife she could find, and cut her wrists open without a flinch. She didn't feel a thing. Her thoughts were all about her probably dead husband, and losing him hurt more than any cut.

With blood dripping from her wrists, she sunk to the floor. She didn't cry, she was too numb, too much in shock to notice the tears flowing down her face. Last thing she saw before losing consciousness, seemed like Johann running into apartment, but it couldn't be true, could it?

 **1918, somewhere in Hydra's base**

Johann was pacing. It wasn't like him to pace, but he paced.

And how could he not? When he saw his battlefield friend walking out of the apartment building his Amy lived in, all he could think about was 'What did he told her? Probably about me being a hero'. Zola told him not to tell her about his initiations with Hydra, so he decided to keep her in the dark about his injuries too. He thought it was for her own good, because thanks to Zola's injections, his wounds healed completely, with no scar left to tell the story.

He recalled, how he got himself into Hydra's web, or how they found him, picked him from all brave and worthy soldiers, telling him that they could make him better. He wanted to be better. Better, meant he could achieve more from his life than just ordinary officer's salary and retirement. It meant that he could be the one holding strings in the country, and that meant that he would fulfill his promise of a better life to his wife. So, he agreed.

He went through countless injections, tests, more injections, more tests, pain. All this for his wife. They promised that she'll be save, provided with everything she needed, and that when he decided he was ready to let her see him, he could go to her and make her the happiest woman in the whole world. They truly believed in what they were saying. And Johann started to believe too.

Then they began talking about the greater good for the whole country, whole world, Hydra. Johann slowly forgot that in the beginning it was all because of his promise to his wife, and started thinking of a bigger picture. He became reckless on the battlefield. Took unnecessary risks, just to prove that he was better, and in the end got a bullet in. Lying on the bed, waiting for another painful injection, he suddenly remembered his wife. Johann was in shock when he noticed that he hadn't thought about her in a while. Then and there he decided that the next thing he'll do would be meeting his Amy.

 _Johann waited for five minutes after soldier left, to make sure Amy would be surprised. When he climbed the stairs, and saw her door wide open, he was the one surprised, 'Did she see me in the window?'. He walked inside of the quiet apartment. The only sound was the clock ticking, and barely audible hiccups coming from the kitchen. Johann frowned, and walked towards the sound._

 _What he saw, hurt him more than anything Zola did to him. There, in the dark, on the cold floor of the kitchen was his wife, his Amy. Sounds were coming from her. When he took a step forward, his leg touched something wet and sticky. Glancing at the floor, Johann almost throw up. It was covered in blood. Red, still warm blood, which was coming from the only other person in the room. He saw his Amy raising her head to look at him when he rushed at her side_ , "Nein,nein,nein,nein Amy, Liebe, nein!" _she collapsed in her own blood._

 _Johann was in shock. There was a small sight of recognition in her eyes before they closed. He wasn't losing her without a fight, of that he was sure. He tied her wrists off with his shirt that he ripped, took her in his arms, and run out of the room, towards the only people he could think of, who could save her now. He run towards Hydra._

That was 15 hours ago. When he rushed in the base screaming for the doctors, they took Amy from him, and injected sedative in him, which knocked him out for five hours. When he woke up, and no one knew anything about how his wife's surgery was going, he started pacing in front of the doors to the room she was in.

After another five hours Zola came out of the room. "We saved her, but she still needs her rest, so you won't be going in there. Do you know why she did what she did?" Johann's face turned stormy, "It must've been something that soldier said to her…he will pay for it." He turned around, and walked towards the armory.

Zola smirked to himself, the only thing needed to turn his experiment into bloodthirsty killer with the world ruling tendency, was to make one stupid soldier say right words to the right girl.

It was a beginning of a new era, era of super soldiers, and thanks to him, HYDRA already had two of them in their possession.

No one noticed, when scrawny lab assistant hurried from the room with all Zola's memos on the serum. No one noticed, when he gave them to their rightful owner "That's all I could find Mr. Erskine".

 **2015, New York**

Anna was used to constant vigilance. Alastor Moody used to talk about it all the time in the Harry Potter books. And while he never meant to watch out for another scary alien attack well, this is real life, so no crazy flying brooms to be afraid of. Crazy flying alien ships? Check! And why it had to happen always somewhere where she was?

It's been three years after the New York Thing, as people called it. Back then, Anna was only fifteen, and she walked out of the café, when suddenly she was thrown in the wall, and some sci-fi movie alien thing was looming over her. Her jaw dropped to the floor, and in the same moment she was flying again, this time being held by the Iron Man, who dropped her somewhere safe and disappeared. She was in shock for the whole two days in total.

Now she was eighteen and same alien shit was happening on the street where she lived, and the Avengers were all on it. This time however, she was smart (or stupid) enough to stay home. She lived in a one-store rowhouse, so there was always a chance that Hulk would stomp on it or someone will just blow it up. But she was stubbornly staying inside, because she had nowhere else to go, and to be honest nothing to lose.

Outside, sounds of the battle started to fade, and Anna breathed out. Her house and problems remained the same, and she was glad for that…Well, not for her problems, but for not having a new one. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door.

Anna opened the door, and saw the Avengers standing on her front yard. Captain America and the flying guy (The Falcon? she wasn't sure) were dragging a body between them. "Hi, we need to use your couch for a while," Anna stood frozen in the doorway just blinking. "Hey, anyone there?" Someone snapped metallic fingers in front of her nose. Anna blinked a few times more, blushed in embarrassment and stepped aside, silently gesturing them to come in.

"Put him right there, in the living room" Anna wasn't sure who said that. She run to the couch and swiped it clean from all papers that were laying around, she could sort them out later. "What happened to him?" she finally found her voice. "Got hit in the head by some alien stuff, no idea what exactly happened." Someone answered her. "So, he might have a concussion?" Anna asked, while grabbing pillows and comforters from the floor. "Yeah, but we don't know for sure" sighed The Falcon, straightening himself up after putting a body on the couch. "I'm Sam, by the way" he smirked at her. "Anna," she answered, staring at the unconscious guy on her couch.

It was The Winter Soldier. Of course, she has heard of him, the best friend of Captain America, brainwashed, tortured and so on, who was now rehabilitating while helping the Avengers save the world. She just hasn't seen any good pictures of him, so his looks surprised her.

Anna had to admit that the man was a piece of art. Tall, dark and handsome wasn't enough to tell how hot he was even lying there unconscious.

She snapped out of her staring, and looked around to see Avengers just standing there doing nothing. "Bathroom is that door there," she pointed at the door in question, "drinks and food are in the fridge in the kitchen, first aid kit is also in the kitchen, go help yourselves." Everyone looked at her as if she had gone crazy, Anna stared right back. "What? It doesn't look to me like he is waking up anytime soon, and I'm positive that at least some of you would like to do something else than just stand there, so at least take a seat, please." There was a total silence for a while, and then everyone went where they wanted.

Anna rolled her eyes, took one of the comforters, folded it, walked to the unconscious Soldier, and raised his legs, putting the comforter under them so, that his legs were higher than his head. When she took a step back, there was that silence again.

She looked at heroes staring at her again, and sighed "What now? If you want him to wake up sooner, this is the one way to do that, blood will flow better to his heart and head, and it helps." "You do know, that he is a master-class assassin, right?" The Hawkeye asked, eyeing her suspiciously, as if she could turn into the pink elephant at any moment. She huffed, "So? It's not like someone would pay for killing me, so I'm in no danger here."

Man, who turned into Hulk – Dr. Banner, he introduced himself, looked at what she did to the Soldier, and complimented her for doing the right thing. Anna stuck her tongue out at Hawkeye.

The Iron Man started to laugh, walked towards her, extended his hand and said, "Call me Tony, sweetheart".

Then everyone introduced themselves, and Captai- **Steve** pointed at his friend and said, "And this is Bucky, as I think everyone in the world knows nowadays. He is almost as famous as Tony if not more," Anna laughed at Tony's shocked expression and walked in the kitchen, poured a glass of cold water and made couple of sandwiches, put them on the tray, and went back to the living room.

There was a small table next to the couch where Soldier was lying. Anna walked towards it, moving past the still-standing Steve, who kept constant eye on his friend. "Do you want something to eat or drink? I could bring you something, so you don't have to leave his side?" "No, thank you, Miss Anna, I'll get something myself," he smiled to her, and went to the kitchen.

Anna placed the tray on the table with soft click, and the next thing she knew, she was slammed into the wall by which the couch was standing, and there was unmistakably cold arm circling her neck and holding her to the wall. The owner of the arm was awake, and looked at Anna as if she was the reason for all he has been through. The noise draw attention of all the Avengers who were running into the room with their weapons raised, and shouting at the Soldier to calm down. In response, he started to squeeze Anna's neck a little bit more.

Anna looked him right in the eyes. They weren't empty, as she though they would be. They were full with fear, confusion and pain, and it was clear that he didn't want to kill her, but he was so scared, that he couldn't think clearly. Anna decided to take the matter in her own hands, while she was still capable of doing so. She slowly raised her empty hands, kept looking into Soldiers eyes and asked others to lower their weapons, so they wouldn't scare him. They obeyed, but kept everything close enough to use if needed.

Anna took a deep breath in, breathed out, looked him again in the eyes and relaxed. Soldier looked confused, and then tensed when Anna begin talking. " _Привет, меня зовут Анна. Ты находишься у меня дома. Твой друг принёс тебя сюда, когда ты потерял сознание после битвы. Здесь ты в безопасности, люди, находящиеся сзади тебя, твои друзья._ " (Hi, my name is Anna. You are in my house now. Your friend brought you here, when you lost your conscious after the battle. Here you are save, people standing behind you, are your friends). " _Как_ _._ _Меня_ _._ _Зовут_ _?_ " (What. Is. My. Name?) Soldier asked panting. " _Джеймс_ _'_ _Баки_ _'_ _Барнес_ " (James 'Bucky' Barnes) answered Anna looking him straight into the eyes.

Recognition filled his eyes, and when he reversed from the surviving mode back to normal, he took his hand away from Anna's neck, as if it burned him.

Anna however wasn't ready for it, because Bucky's hand held her whole weight pinned to the wall, so she didn't have any footing on the couch, and started gracelessly falling face-first to the floor. She squeaked and braced herself for the pain that never come.

Instead, she was swept bridal-style into someone's really muscular embrace. When her heart stopped pumping its way out of her chest, she raised her eyes to look at her savior. " _Ты_ _в_ _порядке_ _?_ " (Are you okay?), she nodded her answer, jumped down to her feet, and looked at food and water. "You should eat something, or at least drink," she pointed at the tray. He eyed it, and then her curiously, so she continued, "All of it was made under the 'supervision' of your friends here, so it's safe, don't worry."

"You speak English?" he asked surprised, while taking offered food and drink.

"I could ask the same about your Russian", quipped Tony.

Anna sighed, and rubbed her forehead, "I speak Russian, English and Finnish fluently, thanks to being born in Russia and living half of my life in Finland and another half here. I also know little Swedish and German thanks to the school's lessons. However, all of this, alongside of all my certificates and other achievements aren't enough to get a good job to pay for the university, so I'm kind of stuck right now in every way possible… Because I already have student loans, and I didn't get a scholarship, so my money isn't enough, and my parents told me that I'll have to deal with it on my own… Okay, I'll stop pouring my problems at you, I'll find a way to deal with them." When she looked around, everyone was looking at her impressed or concerned, except of Tony, who got a calculating look on his face. Anna wasn't sure what to think about that look.

Bucky tried hard not to flinch when he saw the bruises already forming on their hostess neck. She acted like what he did wasn't affecting her. He didn't know how he should react to that. It was nice to meet someone new, who didn't look ready to shit their pants or shoot him every time they saw him. On the other hand, he understood that they'll have to leave soon, and he'll never see her again, so he couldn't get attached.

But well… She looked amazing, being slim-fit, with long dark brown hair and big brown eyes that looked straight to your soul, or so he felt, when she looked at him. And there was something about her nonchalance and self-confidence…he just couldn't catch exactly what…

He had to admit that he was ogling her like a hormonal teenage-boy, but he could allow himself that, he was 24, even after living for almost a hundred years.

He couldn't understand why Anna had problems with money. From his point of view, she could walk into any big corporation, and get a job with the biggest salary right away, she was just so…capable of everything. While he listened to her speaking about her problem, he noticed the look on Tony's face, the one, usually getting them all in trouble. He prayed that Tony would keep his mouth shut, which of course didn't happen.

Tony got an idea. This girl was perfect for a job he had in mind. And if she agreed, there would be two problems less in this world.

"Anna…" he said thoughtfully, "what would you think about me solving your problem?"

Anna huffed " _Ещё_ _один_ _рыцарь_ _на_ _белом_ _коне_ _…"_ (Another knight in the shining armor…). Bucky and Natasha both snorted.

Tony looked at them "What did she said?"

"That I don't need you throwing your money at money just because you feel like it," Anna answered.

"Okay, how about I give you a job? I need someone exactly like you right now."

Anna looked interested, "What kind of job?"

"I need a concert manager/organizer, call it what you like, to work in Russia, and I wasn't able to find anyone who would be good enough for that job, so are you interested? It's a well-paid job, all travels and living will be organized, you just have to say yes…"

Anna didn't even stop to think, "Yes".


End file.
